Sipping at Screw City: Rockford beer festival not bigger, but better

ROCKFORD — If you asked Chris Wachowiak to describe the Screw City Beer Festival, he’d call it an “intimate” gathering of 2,000 friends who love a good ale.

Chris Green

ROCKFORD — If you asked Chris Wachowiak to describe the Screw City Beer Festival, he’d call it an “intimate” gathering of 2,000 friends who love a good ale.

“We could have sold 3,000 tickets,” the Kryptonite Bar owner and festival organizer said Saturday, “but we don’t want to take away from the intimacy. We just want to make it better. We’re trying to create an experience.”

Last year, it sold out the day of the event. This year, it sold out days earlier.

Six food vendors, three musical acts and 43 craft breweries served a variety of beers in 2-ounce tasting cups at Main and West State streets — making for an outing that even Lisa Frost of Madison, Wis., had never experienced.

“I think this is great,” she said. “There are vendors here from California.”

Frost’s favorite beverage of the afternoon? Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.

Adam Johnson, 33, of Rockford is “all about supporting local events and getting people downtown,” he said, sipping on a Side Kick Ale.

Carlyle Brewing Co. manager Rocio Perez said the endless samples of beer allow people to “get out of their comfort zone and try something new.” She served up Black Walnut, Imperial and Smoked Imperial stouts.

Organizers said the festival’s name pays tribute to Rockford’s manufacturing history and former billing as the Screw Capital of the USA.

The beer festival marked its third year Saturday. It was honored at the 25th annual Heart of Rockford Awards last year for drawing people to the heart of the city.

“This is only from 1 to 5,” Wachowiak said. “When we close, every restaurant down here will be packed. That’s what this is all about.”